Indians win in overtime - finally

bob ford/times news Pleasant Valley's Alex DiMarco (left) and Lehighton's Sage Terembula reach for the ball at it bounces into the air.

By TJ ENGLE tengle@tnonline.com

For the fourth time this season and the third time in Mountain Valley Conference play, 60 minutes wasn't enough time to decide the outcome of a Lehighton field hockey game.

This time, however, the extra time was good to the Indians.

Gwen Remaley's goal with 8:52 left in overtime gave Lehighton a 3-2 victory over Pleasant Valley.The junior forward took a deflection off a Sarah Keer shot on goal, recovered it and flicked it to the back of the Bears' cage, allowing the Indians to celebrate their first overtime win of the season.

"We have had plenty of overtimes this season," Remaley said. "The frustration had been building. No matter how we did it, we were going to make sure we won this time.

"I just saw the ball and I took the opportunity and capitalized."

After watching his Indians (5-5 overall; 4-2 MVC) drop overtime decisions to MVC foes Pocono Mountain East and Stroudsburg, and most recently to Archbishop John Carroll over the weekend, Lehighton head coach Lamar Long was happy to finally get a sudden-death victory.

"I'm so glad we finally won in overtime," Long said. "Most of our games have been one-point spreads and it starts to become stressful. Today, I just kept the people in and had complete faith in them.

"It helps our moral. Hopefully, we'll keep this momentum going with our busy two weeks coming up. We have to keep it up and keep winning."

Long was thrilled that Remaley even had a chance to score the game-winner.

"Gwen got hit in the head on Saturday, so we weren't even sure coming into today if she was going to be able to play or not," Long said. "Luckily, she got the okay to play. She was all over the field. She was doing her job and she finished when we needed it. Gwen played awesome all game."

After Keer accounted for the lone goal in the first half, and the Bears' Melissa Russo tied the game up with 13:13 left in the second half, Remaley capitalized on her first shot of the game to give the Indians the lead again. With 6:22 left in the game, Remaley dribbled past some Bears' defenders and pushed the ball to dead center of the cage for a 2-1 Lehighton lead.

With 3:22 left in the game however, the Bears' Annie Butchkoski capitalized on her first shot of the game as well. In a mess in front of the Indians' cage, Butchkoski found a way to get the ball around the Indians' keeper to tie the game at 2-2.

With no one stepping forth in the waning moments, it became the Indians' fourth overtime game and the second OT game for the Bears (5-3-1; 4-2 MVC).

Unfortunately for Pleasant Valley coach Angela Frantz, her team wasn't quite able to seize the moment.

"It's just whoever comes up and shows up to play," Frantz said. "It's always a tough game. It was a battle the whole game.

"It always seems like we're not able to come out on top in games like this, but hopefully next time we get it."

There will be another showdown between the two conference rivals in the near future as the Indians travel to "Bear Country" on Friday, Oct. 5.